


A Rock and a Hard Place

by jujus_writing_corner



Series: Whumptober 2019 [18]
Category: Real Person Fiction, Youtube RPF
Genre: Bullying, Crying, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 19:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21081605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujus_writing_corner/pseuds/jujus_writing_corner
Summary: Oliver knows his brothers are cruel to Bingiplier, but he's never found solid proof of it – until now.Whumptober Day 18: Muffled Scream





	A Rock and a Hard Place

**Author's Note:**

> This might not fit the prompt that well but I tried :p
> 
> Enjoy!

Oliver is not stupid.

He’s an android connected to the internet just like his brothers are, and thus he’s every bit as smart as they are. But they pretend he isn’t, sometimes. Not outwardly, probably not even intentionally, but they do.

Oliver knows they bully Bing. Oliver knows they get physical with them, knows they insult him in ways that cut deep. They hide it, though; they pretend to tolerate Bing when Oliver’s in the room, as if Oliver doesn’t know they’ll go right back to bullying Bing when he leaves. Bing tries to hide it, too, tries to hide where the injuries come from or why he’s crying, but Oliver knows it’s more out of pride and a desire to keep the peace than anything else. And Oliver, for his part, feels cowardly sometimes. He wants to acknowledge this unspoken secret, but what good will it do? He doesn’t have any concrete proof of it, not yet, and it won’t make his brothers stop hating Bing or vice versa. Maybe that’s part of why they hide it so much: For plausible deniability. More than cowardly, it makes Oliver feel plain angry.

The elephant in the room can’t be ignored any more when Oliver hears something one day: A small, muffled yelp, come from Plus’s workroom.

He pauses, listens, hears it again but much quieter this time. His first thought is that Plus might’ve hurt himself, so he gets up from his own workstation to go to him.

But when he gets there, he almost immediately backtracks, staying behind the mostly closed door and peeking through, because it’s not Plus who’s trying not to cry out.

It’s _Bing._

Chrome is there, too, pushing Bing against the wall and holding him there as Plus pokes at him with some new tool he’s made – a soldering wand, thinner than an average one. Bing is squirming, in pain, trying to get away – but most of all, Oliver can see he’s humiliated, embarrassed to be stuck here as an unwilling guinea pig. His cheeks are blushing orange with shame and he won’t meet the eyes of Chrome or Plus.

“Come on,” Bing gasps, breath hitching as the wand burns holes into his arm, “Do you have to test this – ow – on me??”

“Yes,” Plus answers, deadpan. “I need to make sure it’ll work well on us, and I’m not risking hurting my brothers with such a new, unpredictable piece of tech.” He grins. “Don’t worry; if I can get the settings how I want them, I can solder the holes I’ve made shut again.”

“Gee, thanks,” Bing mutters, then yelps again at a particularly bad burn. Chrome shakes him in response.

“I keep telling you to be quiet,” Chrome snarls, “Do you want us to get caught? Do you want Oliver to see this?” Bing merely whimpers.

Oliver bristles, no, _fumes_ to hear his name used against his best friend. It’s the shock to his system he needs to throw the door open. All three pairs of eyes snap towards him, and all three people cower slightly at the sight.

“Ollie–” Plus tries.

“Leave him alone.” Oliver’s surprised at how stony his own voice is, and judging by the looks on their faces, so are the others.

“Ollie, it’s not–” Chrome begins.

“Not what?” Oliver snaps. “Not what it looks like? Because I’m pretty sure it is. I’m not a fucking idiot, Chrome.”

Chrome shrinks back, and Bing and Plus’s eyes go wide. Oliver hardly ever swears. Chrome releases Bing like he’s something dangerous, and Bing scurries to Oliver’s side.

“Ollie–”

“Are you okay?” Oliver’s voice is a bit softer now as he takes Bing’s arm, the one with burn marks and soldering holes.

“Y-Yeah,” Bing mumbles, “It’s not…It’s not that bad.”

“Compared to what they’ve done before, you mean?” Oliver asks. Bing looks away.

“…I guess,” he admits, so quiet that even in a room full of androids with super-hearing he’s barely audible.

“Go wait for me at my workstation, I’ll repair you in a bit,” Oliver tells him. He gives Bing’s unhurt arm a gentle squeeze. Bing nods, clearly still unhappy, and leaves.

The room is quiet for a long moment. Chrome is staring at the floor, Plus is only barely meeting Oliver’s eyes, and any gentleness that remained in Oliver’s expression is gone again.

“This isn’t your problem, Oliver,” Chrome mutters, “We don’t like him and he doesn’t like us. That’s just how it is.”

“What if _I_ didn’t like _Yandere?”_ Oliver asks. Chrome’s head snaps up at that, but Oliver continues before he can speak. “What if I beat him up and made fun of him all the time? And what if I tried to hide it from you and thought I could get away with it?”

“Hey–” Plus murmurs.

“And Plus,” Oliver adds, turning to him, “What if I hated Dr. Iplier? What if I bullied him? Would you not be upset? Would you not be _angry?”_

“It’s not the same!” Plus bursts out.

“No, it’s not, is it?” Oliver snaps, sarcastic, “Because Bing is just the absolute worst and has nothing to offer anybody, huh? Even though–” He cuts himself off with a harsh breath, and takes a moment to compose himself before he continues. “Even though he’s my best friend. Even though he never tells me about what you guys do to him, because he doesn’t want to make things worse or hurt my feelings. Bing’s just the worst, but he’s more considerate to me than either of you.”

“Are you gonna yell at Google, then?” Chrome grumbles, “He’s meaner to Bing than either of us.”

“Maybe I will,” Oliver seethes, “But right now, I’m talking to _you_ guys.” He sighs. “Look, I don’t expect you to be best friends with Bing or hand out with him or anything, but just…can you let him be? Or bully him less?” He breathes in another rough breath, and tears form in his eyes. “Please, for me, can you stop hurting him so much? You’re all important to me, I don’t want this to happen anymore.”

Both Chrome and Plus are by Oliver’s side in an instant, hugging him tight. None of the Googles can stand to see Oliver cry, even now. Oliver hugs them back despite himself.

“We’ll try,” Plus promises.

“We didn’t mean to hurt you,” Chrome murmurs.

“I know,” Oliver whimpers, “Just, please, really do try, okay?”

They promise, and a few minutes later, Oliver has recovered enough to go back to his workstation, where Bing is still sitting.

“Sorry it took me a bit,” Oliver says, a bit sheepish, “Didn’t mean to make you wait so long.”

“No worries,” Bing says, his easy grin back on his face.

It’s almost like nothing happened, like Oliver didn’t find his own brothers causing the injuries he now begins to treat. Fortunately, the holes are clean and smooth, easily patched over to leave the skin as perfect as it was before. But what happened still hangs in the air, and when Oliver is done, he can’t help but speak up.

“Bing,” Oliver asks, “How come you never talked to me about this?” Bing looks down, and Oliver continues, keeping his voice gentle. “I love my brothers, yeah, but I care about _you,_ too.”

Bing stays looking down for a long moment. When he looks up, tears are running down his cheeks.

“I didn’t want you to get mad at them,” Bing whispers, shaky, “I didn’t want you to hate them. I know–” He sobs. “I know how important brothers are. I d-don’t want you to lose yours because of me.”

Oliver stares at Bing, stares at his friend on the edge of a breakdown after so much bullying, after laying himself bare to Oliver, and wonders if this is how Bing felt every time he ever held back or muffled his own cries of pain.

There’s nothing for Oliver to do but hug Bing and rub his back until he stops crying, and hope that things will be better from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> ;;;w;;;
> 
> I actually have a WIP about Bing and how losing his brother messed him up. I couldn't finish it before this month but I'll hopefully finish it after if y'all are interested >w>


End file.
